Preoccupation with calories, food, and food preparation
Loss or absence of menstrual periods (in women)
Extensive exercise
Dry, flaky, or cracked skin
Dry, sparse hair on scalp
Pale, downy hair on face and body
Hypothermia
Depression
Description
Anorexia nervosa is a psychological disorder that most often affects young women between the ages of 12 and 21. In fact, less than 10 percent of all those with anorexia nervosa are males. The problem typically occurs in someone with a distorted body image who desperately wants to lose weight. She may start by eliminating high-calorie foods and snacks from her diet, then progress to skipping meals altogether, or eating smaller portions. Often, a person with anorexia nervosa may eat only a few small items of food a day, such as an apple and a few carrot sticks. To burn off even more calories, many sufferers become obsessive exercisers.
Unfortunately, when the body doesn't have a store of calories to use as fuel for everyday functions (such as breathing, walking, moving), It starts to burn its own muscle cells in order to come up with the calories it needs to survive. In deed, the anorexic's heart muscle can often be. come so weak and depleted that it stops beating, Many victims of severe anorexia die of heart attacks-even though they may be in their teens or twenties. Other consequences of anorexia include delayed sexual maturation gastrointestinal disorders (including constipation), and liver and kidney damage.
Anorexia doesn't have one specific cause. Risk factors include:
Low self-esteem
Perfectionist personality
High expectations, stress due to multiple responsibilities and/or tight schedules
Ambivalence about independence
Early puberty
Conventional Medical Treatment
Sychotherapy, rather than drug therapy, is the first line of treatment for anorexia. A mental health professional trained to treat eating disorders encourages the patient to gain weight by increasing daily caloric intake by 300 calories every two weeks. The psychotherapist also tries to determine the psychosocial issues affecting the sufferer's body image, and seek to build her sense of self-worth and a more positive body image. In severe cases, bed rest with supervised meals are called for until patient has gained 10 to 20 pounds. Since the goal in treating anorexia is to encourage the individual to get better on her own, forced or tube feeding is usually avoided. In instances where the individual is clinically depressed, an anti-depressant may be given.
Treatment For Anorexia Nervosa
Family and caretakers of patients with Nervous Anorexia must always consider hospitalization as the most benefic way to save them from starving themselves. Although the patients will try to avoid hospitalization and look for other treatment options, we must not forget these options have frequently been tried before without any success.
As a patient in a psychiatric unit for persons with nervous eating problems, they will have an exact meal schedule and a certain weight target they must reach. For all progresses such as eating regulate meals without purging afterwards the patients will be rewarded. After completing the rehabilitation as an inpatient, Anorexia sufferers will be taught how to continue the treatment at home, also sustained by group therapy or even a support group. Without a proper care inside the hospital and then at home, the patient's progress tends to be much slower as these types of persons seem to have neither personal will nor strength to fight their disorder.
Patients will need to be supervised a few hours after every meal in order to prevent them from throwing up. The daily weight must be carefully monitored as well as the intake of fluids. The daily calorie value in the beginning of the cure must vary around about 1500-2000 and will increase progressively when the patient begins to eat and act properly. The daily number of meals for anorexics should be about six; regular meals can be substituted by intra venous nutrition or liquid food in case of patients with severe anorexia symptoms.
In hospital care, the doctors and caretakers must be careful not to overly insist on the importance of gaining weight, as the weight problem is only a physical symptom of the more complex eating disorder. Correcting the poor image of themselves and the low self-esteem are the primer major steps in confronting the nervous eating difficulties. Weight gain must be used only as a real objective in the main target which is correcting the psychological problem.
There are some additional therapy methods like certain medication that can be extremely helpful in decreasing the disease's symptoms. The intake of the medication in patients at the begin of the therapy must be carefully monitored as the vomiting may interfere and diminish the effect of the chemo. To avoid such problems, a relation of reciprocal trust must be established between patient and physician; the absence of honesty and trust will negatively influence the final results.
Obsessions, anxiety and agitation can all be managed and controlled by the intake of chlorpromazine. Also the recovery process will be fastened by antidepressants. Support groups are always necessary to sustain the will of the patient of getting better and prevent reoccurrence. Although very important, this therapy method is often overlooked by physicians.
Both Richard Bean & Groshan Fabiola are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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